Best Fisheye Lens for Canon | Reviewed with Buying Guide

The fisheye lenses are a kind of wide-angle lens that lets you capture a wide area in a frame. This lens offers a special view of the images with excellent distortion effects. They’re not only helpful, but they’re also light and portable, making them easy to transport with other camera equipment. So, are you seeking the best fisheye lens for Canon?

Although there is a lot of fisheye lenses available in the market, all of them are not so effective in terms of performance. Here we enlisted the 6 best fisheye lenses for Canon. Read the reviews carefully and grab your best-suited one.

Why use a Fisheye lens?

The use of a fisheye lens is more of an artistic decision than a practical one. The tremendous curvature of the image being captured has been extensively stylized in order to make it seem more realistic. This sort of lens will generate distortion in your photograph. When applied appropriately to your photograph, it will improve the photograph.

One of the most apparent imaginative applications of a fisheye lens is the creation of distortion along the horizon line. In addition to being useful for artistic effects, it may be utilized to frame the scene you’re taking. It allows for much more area to be included in the frame and the ability to create a unique atmosphere.

You will discover a plethora of intriguing forms and combinations that you might otherwise overlook. It just allows for a great deal of imagination. That’s not all, however. An extreme wide-angle lens, such as a fisheye, may be very beneficial in capturing images. To know more about why you should consider a fisheye lens, read this article – What does a fisheye lens do.

6 Best Fisheye Lens for Canon 2022 Review

To get the maximum fisheye performance, you must buy the best lens. Our reviewed 6 best fisheye lenses are able to give the best performance for sure.

Our top picks: At a glance

1. Best for Landscape Photography: Altura Photo 58MM 0.35x Fisheye Lens
2. Best for Hobbyist Photographer: Rokinon FE8M-C 8mm F3.5 Fisheye Fixed Lens
3. Best for Performance: Meike 8mm f3.5 Ultra-Wide Angle Fisheye Lens
4. Best Budget-friendly Fisheye Lens: Rokinon HD8M-C 8mm f/3.5 HD Fisheye Lens
5. Best for Picture Perfect Image: Opteka 6.5mm f/3.5 Professional Fisheye Lens
6. Best for Sharp Image: Altura Photo Professional Aspherical Fisheye Lens

1. Altura Photo 58MM 0.35x Fisheye Lens

The Altura Photo 58MM 0.35x Fisheye Wide-Angle Lens is the best and ideal alternative to professional as well as high-end lenses. This lens lets you shoot a wide field of view by mounting it with a fixed or even a zoom lens. This wide-angle fisheye lens is best for shooting landscape and family photos as well as it is great for all photographer levels.

Heavy-duty Build

Design and build quality are massive factors for any kind of lens. This function indicates how long you will be able to use the lens. This one features an extra heavy-duty design and build to ensure more durability. This feature makes this lens a great option for a professional photographer to use outdoor as well as in any situation.

2-in-1 Function

By unscrewing the components of the lens, you may create a macro lens. This is convenient since you can still manage the aperture. There are screw-on lens adapters that enable you to invert your lens on the camera body and use it as a macro lens. You can acquire a relatively deep field of focus thanks to the ability to utilize a high F-stop.

Lens Compatibility

This 2 in 1 Fisheye lens is compatible with only 58MM Canon as well as other lenses. There are several Canon cameras available according to the thread size. So, before purchasing this lens, you should verify the thread size of your camera’s lens. The thread size of the camera’s lens will be marked on the barrel of your lens or printed underneath of lens cap.

Overall Performance

This fisheye adds a unique perspective to your photos. It distorts rather well for the price, but it does not provide a broader field of vision than the lens to which it is connected. This lens might be useful if you wish to photograph an extreme fisheye image, such as via a peephole. This lens might also be used to create a low-cost macro photograph.

Image Quality

Now it is time to go through the image quality shot by this lens. The lens captures pictures and distorts them to make them seem broader and more appealing. This lens may provide your images with a fresh and broader perspective for people who wish to improve their topic without having to use post-production. It is possible to produce images that are professional-looking with the aid of natural lighting.

Pros

• It has a removable macro lens for ultra-close-ups of objects
• Ideal for shooting extreme sports as well as dramatic action
• This lens has full autofocused as well as Infrared compatible

Cons

• The lens is not at all suitable for professional photography

2. Rokinon FE8M-C 8mm F3.5 Fisheye Fixed Lens

Rokinon FE8M-C 8mm F3.5 Fisheye Fixed Lens is a stunning fisheye lens. This lens offers 180 degrees of angle view and a wide view of fields. It comes with several exclusive features and functionalities that make it one of the best editors’ choice lenses. This would be ideal for hobbyists as well as professionals looking for a high-quality 180-degree fisheye at a lower cost.

Exclusive Build-Quality

Because it is composed of metal rather than plastic, the build quality of this fisheye lens is excellent. Considering this is a cheap lens, this is rather remarkable, particularly considering that many more pricey lenses are constructed of plastic. It seems like there ought to be a greater number of “pros” on this list. The integrated Petal-type hood, as well as multi-coating, makes it easier to control the flare and ghosting.

Larger field view

Using these Fisheye lenses, you can get an exceptionally broad field of view. It is a kind of wide-angle lens that can take images with a very wide field of view, often approximately 180 degrees in width. As a result of the distortion, the pictures it produces have a dynamic as well as an abstract effect to them.

Highly Compatible

Lens compatibility is one of the major aspects that everyone should consider before investing in a new lens. Although this lens is mainly designed for Canon cameras, it is also compatible with other cameras. This one is constructed for the DSLR camera that has APS-C image sensors. This wide-angle fisheye lens is available for Canon EOS, Sony Alpha, Nikon, Pentax, as well as Olympus 4/3 mounts.

Outstanding Performance

Although it is a budget lens, it performs like an expensive one and will never disappoint you. Design to performance, it really beat the price. This wide-angle fisheye lens features an angle of view of 180 degrees. This function is for ensuring a dramatic effect on the images. Its manual focus is excellent, and there is nothing to worry about the focus.

Excellent Outcome

The visual quality of the Rokinon, I believe, speaks for itself in these photographs. Even with full-frame cameras, the image quality is excellent. At apertures ranging from f/8 to f/16, the lens produces images with excellent color and contrast. Its 8mm 180° field of view is excellent and gives you more freedom in focusing on things, resulting in a less distorted shot.

Pros

• This lens offers a wide-field view with a 180-degree view angle
• 12 inches minimum focus distance ensure the better close shot
• The manual focus, as well as the aperture, works excellently

Cons

• Through the lens, there is no method of checking the focus

3. Meike 8mm f3.5 Ultra-Wide Angle Fisheye Lens

Meike continues to expand its lens line, providing unique fisheye lenses at affordable pricing. It provides a well-built lens with a multilayered nano-coating to help avoid blurry light with their 8mm f/3.5. It has a 200° horizontally angle of view, with 11 components in 8 groups. After all, this is one of the most affordable fisheye lenses available.

Premium in quality

The lens offers superb construction, performance, and quality, as well as straightforward simplicity of use. It features 8 groups with 11 elements that make it a bit bulkier than other fisheyes. A multi-layer coating is applied to the lens to prevent flare as well as ghosting. However, this one is more compact and durable than a conventional lens, making it easy to carry.

Convenient focusing

This Ultra-Wide Angle Fisheye Lens features a manual focus system. It provides convenient focusing performance. This approach provides the photographer with complete control over the aesthetic of a shot. Photographers will benefit from the mental presence required to manually focus on each frame. Additionally, the ultra-wide lenses with a hazily lit aperture focus better. It also makes achieving the proper focus of the surrounding field much simpler.

Exclusive Viewing Angle

This fisheye has a 180° viewing angle and is made up of 11 elements organized into 8 groups. Due to the lens’s short focusing distance of just 35cm, it is an excellent option for a broad variety of photographic conditions, from dramatic streetscapes to detailed landscapes. The ultra-wide viewfinder of this amazing lens makes it simple to capture superfluous details.

Fisheye Performance

Sharpness is an unexpected strength of the aesthetic when stopped abruptly. This lens includes an aperture range from f/3.5 to f/22. Between f/3.5 to f/4.8 aperture region, it guarantees a typical sharpness. However, at the aperture of f/5.6, this improves to great and becomes amazing at f/8 to f/11. f/16 is great, and photos are still nice at f/22. Overall, the quality and performance of the lens are excellent.

Image Quality

This fisheye lens is able to provide outstanding outcomes. The sharpness of the images taken by this one is absolutely awesome. There is nothing wrong with the sharpness of the images. There is no trace of a loss of sharpness or undesirable aberrations even with the light in the frame shining through trees. The lens has excellent bokeh, and the out-of-range focus regions are pleasing enough.

Pros

• This camera kit comes with a lot of aperture blades
• It is affordable but excellent in quality and functionality
• Worked effectively in low light, producing clear shots

Cons

• This lens does not perform well with a full-frame camera

4. Rokinon HD8M-C 8mm f/3.5 HD Fisheye Lens

Rokinon HD8M-C 8mm f/3.5 HD Fisheye Lens is another best 8 mm fisheye lens in this list. This lens comes with a Removable Hood and offers a 167-degree angle of view with stunning, exaggerated perspectives. For a dramatic impact, the lens will generate photos with such a semi-circular view, and near images will look proportionally bigger.

Stunning Build Quality

This lens is very well made, thanks to its metal construction as opposed to plastic. This is especially impressive in light of the lens’ low price and the fact that many more expensive lenses are made of plastic. You would expect that there may be more “pros” listed here. Flare and ghosting are simpler to suppress with the integrated hood and multi-coating.

Diagonal field view

This fisheye lens features 12 inches of minimum focal length. This focal length will improve close-up captures. The lens is capable of 160 degrees diagonal type field of view. It will result in a rounded picture that does not fill the whole frame, as seen in the example. With an APS-C or full-frame camera, it will offer users a dramatic view and exaggerated viewpoint.

Overall Performance

The overall performance of this kit is good enough for any kind of photographer. This lens’s manual focus is really a benefit since you shouldn’t have to concern about the lens scrambling for focus. From f/8 to f/16, the lens is razor-sharp as well as offers excellent color plus contrast. Its wide field of vision gives it a lot of leeways when it comes to centering objects for something less distorted image.

Image Quality

Regarding the cost of the lens, the picture quality is very excellent. Most wide-angle fisheye lenses are affected by chromatic aberration. Usually, the less costly the lens, the poorer it is. However, this lens seems to have minor aberration, as well as it’s a simple repair in Lightroom. Ultimately, you can’t criticize this small lens for picture quality at all.

Pros

• The manual focus of this lens works perfectly and accurately
• Feature multi-layer coating to minimize ghost and flare
• It has extensive aperture options ranging from f/3.5 to f/22

Cons

• Performance in the low light environment is not too good

5. Opteka 6.5mm f/3.5 Professional

Opteka 6.5mm f/3.5 Professional Ultra-Wide Angle Aspherical Fisheye is the best affordable lens on this list. It offers a longer field view with a fixed 6.5mm focal length. The lens is intended for APS-C image sensor cameras, despite the EF-mount on the barrel. Overall, this lens comes with a set of excellent features and provides extraordinary performance.

Exclusive Build

Despite being affordable in price, it comes with the exclusive build quality. The construction quality of this one is excellent, with a metal mounting as well as a barrel and a huge rubber focusing ring. The ring may be placed between any of these limits, but you do not really know what you’ll receive. The hood may be removed by installing the cap in this place.

Manual Focus System

This lens features a manual focus system with such a wide field of view. It is that even at f/3.5, you’ll probably be alright if you use the proximity scale to determine the approximate critical place. The MFD of the lens is 11.8 inches, which opens up several options. If you really want the clearest photos possible, focusing somewhere at MFD becomes a bit more challenging.

F/3.5-22 Aperture Range

At the aperture of f/3.5, there is indeed a bit of color abrasion depending on the illumination. This aperture is particularly effective in very low-light situations when the photos will be fuzzy. But you must obtain the shot nevertheless. Problems with an aperture of f/3.5 will reduce a lot at an aperture of f/8. The clarity increases noticeably at f/8. The hue and contrast are quite accurate to real-life situations.

Exclusive Performance

A 180° view generates distorted perspective as well as creative distortion. One aspherical component reduces spherical distortions as well as ensures uniform light and sharpness. When shooting in bright light, the lens hood with multi-layer lens coating help decrease flare and also ghosting. Aluminum-alloy lens attachment provides a strong lens-to-camera interaction.

Capture Quality

Let’s take a look at the image quality captured by this lens. The images taken by this lens are Sharpe in the middle and become softer as you get closer to the edges. Although there are some color issues with the F / 3.5 Aperture, it will reduce with the F / 8 Aperture. This lens does an excellent job with color saturation.

Pros

• Durable and lightweight design makes it easy to carry
• The manual aperture of this lens works fast and smoothly
• Affordable but excellent in quality and performance

Cons

• This fisheye lens has some color issues in f/3.5 aperture

6. Altura Photo Professional Aspherical Fisheye Lens

If you are seeking a fisheye effect for your Canon camera, Altura Photo Professional Aspherical Fisheye Lens will be your best lens. It is a great as well as an affordable alternative to the expensive fisheye lens. When utilized exactly for the purpose for which it was designed, it surely does not disappoint. The features and performance of this Professional Lens are as straightforward as the convenience of use of levels.

Design and Build

The lens has excellent build quality as well as performance and a simple user interface. This one features a metal build with a premium hybrid aspherical component. It ensures exceptional and sharply defined photos. Such a compact design makes it ideal for day-to-day use and carries it anywhere. The lens contains a retractable petal cover as well as a big front which is sculpted to the lens’ form.

Manual Aperture and Focus

With the aid of a manual aperture ring, a completely manual focusing mechanism has been implemented. The textured focusing ring is comfortable to hold and simple to spin, allowing for precise clarity with pinpoint accuracy. Despite the fact that the clicking aperture ring only increases in one-stop intervals, these lenses have a very shallow depth of focus.

Multilayered coatings

The multilayered coating used to each lens component plainly performs an excellent job at displaying contrast as well as colors. This is particularly true whenever the lens is exposed to a lot of light. ISO plus shutter speeds may be maintained to a minimum in low light settings due to the small focal length.

Lens Performance

This lens performs well both inside and out. As a result, photographers may snap high-quality fisheye photos everywhere. While utilizing this lens specifically developed for Canon users, photographers may alter the focus using the manual aperture as well as focus control. This is a major bonus, particularly when taking images that demand a lot of focus and precision.

Image Quality

The photos captured by these lenses are quite crisp and clear. Close-up photos shot with the lens have a distinct appearance. When it comes to capturing photos, many creative photographers aim for it. As a result, the photographs have the typical drastically warped perspectives. Images will be crisp and have a lot of natural detail, which may be increased in post-production.

Pros

• Extraordinary build quality as well as performance
• Able to shoot excellent photos in low light condition
• Comes with an excellent lens case to ensure safe storage

Cons

• Changing the setting of this lens is a bit challenging

How to Choose a Fisheye Lens: Buying Guides

There are a lot of collections of fisheye lenses out on the market. However, all of them are not capable of providing the maximum outcomes to the photographers. So, while you are in the market to purchase a new fisheye lens, you should consider several things. Here are some important things listed below that you should consider before investing in a new fisheye lens.

Compatible Mountings

There are many different kinds of lens makers and lens types to choose from. Its distinct production process is used by each of the companies. Additionally, the lens mount on your DSLR differs from different manufacturers depending on the model.

As a result, it’s critical to understand the lens mount system of the camera as well as the lens format of the camera you’re considering purchasing. This information will very certainly be found in the user manual for your camera. Look through the camera’s handbook to establish the sort of lens mount it has.

Focal Length

The focal length is mainly the distance between the focus and the lens or curved mirror’s surface. The focal length of a lens determines the viewing angle, the number of scenes that will be caught, as well as the magnification. It also determines how big the individual components are. As the focal length of a lens is increased, the viewpoint becomes narrower as well as the magnification increases.

The fisheye lenses come with several focal lengths ranging from 8 mm to 35 mm. Every single lens provides exclusive functionalities based on the focal length. When photographing basic landscapes featuring long leading lines, a large focal length such as 16mm is the best option to go.

Lens Apertures

When purchasing a lens, the aperture is another vital aspect to take into consideration. The lens aperture is responsible for determining how much light is allowed to pass through the lens and onto the sensor. If you discover yourself operating in low light conditions, a lens with a larger aperture will be the best choice.

When shooting subjects that are moving quickly or in a handheld manner, using a larger aperture will enable you to employ quicker shutter rates. Lenses with larger apertures also enable you to boost the bokeh. It would be the aesthetic quality of out-of-focus foreground blur while shooting in manual mode. When you notice an aperture range f/3.5 to f/5.4 listed on the lens side, they are the max aperture value.

Type of the lens

The type of the fisheye lens is another crucial thing that you should consider before picking a lens for your bag. These lenses come in 2 different types; Full-Frame and Circular Fisheye lenses. A circular lens can capture a complete 180-degree view in every direction. This creates a circular picture with black outlines around the corners of the frame.

On the other hand, full-frame fisheye lenses can only capture 180 degrees diagonally, resulting in a rectangular shot with no black borders. Photos made with a full-frame lens are square well as have no black borders. This enables them more useful for capturing classic landscapes and interiors of buildings.

Lens Effect

Before purchasing a great fisheye lens for your Canon camera, it is necessary to understand the effects of fisheye lenses. The circular as well as full-frame fisheye lens, are two sorts of fisheye lenses. All of these 2 kinds of a fisheye lenses can produce a wide-angle of view.

It is possible to get a 180-degree viewing angle in all aspects using a circular fisheye lens, which generates an image that is round and tiny inside its frame. While a diagonal lens produces an image that is huge enough to fill the frame fully, it only has a 180 ° viewing angle on the diagonal lines.

Price of the Lens

Price is the last but not least aspect that you should consider before buying any kind of lens. You should always look for a lens that can give you better performance without breaking your bank. Many people think that the more expensive a lens, the better its performance. In fact, this is a completely wrong idea; So, you need to find a good lens within your budget.

Fisheye lenses tend to be relatively cheap compared to other lenses in terms of price. To get a high-performance fisheye lens, you could expect to pay between $150 and $350 dollars. There are a lot of reputed brands in the market that offer you a better lens at this price.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is a fisheye lens good for?

In photography, a fisheye lens is a kind of wide-angle lens. This lens enables you to capture an unusual and distorted image of the subject’s surroundings. You can use this kind of lens to capture both still photos and also video recordings. By using third-party adapters, you can imitate the spectacular ultra-wide appearance with this lens.

Is fish eye the same as wide-angle?

Fisheye lenses are a kind of wide-angle lens that is highly peculiar to the fisheye lens. These Lenses, in contrast to rectilinear, do not attempt to maintain straight lines straight. Instead, they exhibit significant barrel distortion that has not been addressed.

Can you zoom with a fisheye lens?

Most fisheye lenses have such a focal length of roughly 24mm or less, making them ideal for landscape photography. Their focal lengths may be either fixed or variable, and they can be either primes or zoom lenses with a fixed or variable focal range. Some lenses have a wide field of view and are ideal for getting up and personal with the action.

Is it worth buying a fisheye lens?

A fisheye lens is a very wide-angle lens with a lot of visual distortion. This lens guarantee that the entire landscape is in perfect focus, in addition to employing high aperture settings. Overall, this lens performs extremely well, and it meets more value for money.

Final Thought

A fisheye lens may add additional dimensions to your collected images, but you should be careful when purchasing one. In this Best fisheye lens for Canon review, we’ve compiled a list of the best lenses as well as a shopping guide. Remember to go through all of the options while considering your photographic needs in mind.